Heat exchanger arrangement

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a heat exchanger arrangement including an air heat exchanger arranged in a thermally insulated housing chamber; a defrosting device; and a fan, wherein the housing chamber itself forms an air flow cavity and is segmented by the air heat exchanger into an inflow cavity and an outflow cavity, and wherein the air heat exchanger includes adjustable flaps which are configured on an air inlet side and on an air outlet side of the heat exchanger to regulate or block an airflow path.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of PCT/EP2011/050172, filed on Jan.7, 2011, claiming priority from German Patent Application DE 10 2010 000956.3, filed on Jan. 15, 2010.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a heat exchanger arrangement, in particular forair conditioning arrangements or arrangements for producing cold air forcooling processes.

In arrangements of this type, air is thermally treated and a basicfunction of these arrangements is to cool air in order to use the air ascold air for air conditioning purposes or other cooling purposes.

An air heat exchanger is an important component of arrangements of thistype, wherein air is cooled in the air heat exchanger. Thus, arefrigerant or cooling brine can be used as a heat absorbing fluid.Depending on the sizing of the air conditioning arrangement which is afunction of the required cooling volume flows, the air heat exchangercomponents are sometimes configured as tall as a man and substantialtechnical complexity is involved in integrating these heat exchangersefficiently into air conditioning arrangements and to integrate the airconditioning arrangements into buildings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the art heat exchangers are integrated into air conditioningarrangements through heavy air deflection hoods. The fans for feedingthe air to be cooled or the cooled air are thus arranged at a slantangle and therefore there are no optimum operating, maintenance andrepair conditions for these components.

The air heat exchangers for cooling air are mostly operated below thedew point of the air to be cooled, so that water condensates at the heatexchangers, which accumulates as ice at the heat exchanger for heatexchanger temperatures below freezing. Thus, it is required that theseair heat exchangers are defrosted in constant intervals for maintainingthe efficiency of the heat transfer and the condensate thus released hasto be removed. For this purpose, typically additional heating energy isrequired in order to provide the defrosting of the heat exchanger in atime efficient manner.

It is a disadvantage of the known arrangements of this type that thedefrosting devices integrated into the air heat exchanger throughadditional heating cartridges does not operate in an energy efficientmanner because a portion of the heat energy that is introduced escapeswithout making the frozen condensate melt.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus it is an object of the invention to provide a heat exchangerarrangement which does not require an excessive amount of material,which is energy efficient and which is furthermore configured in amaintenance friendly manner.

The object is achieved according to the invention through a heatexchanger arrangement according to patent claim 1. Further embodimentsof the invention are provided in the dependent claims.

According to the invention, the object is achieved in particular througha heat exchanger arrangement which includes an air heat exchanger whichis arranged in a thermally insulated housing chamber. The air heatexchanger furthermore includes a defrosting device and furthermore a fanfor feeding air is provided in the housing chamber. The housing chamberforms a portion of the air flow cavity and is segmented through the airheat exchanger into an inflow cavity and an outflow cavity with respectto the heat transfer.

It is a particularity of the air heat exchanger according to theinvention that the air heat exchanger has adjustable flaps which arearranged on an air inlet side and on an air outlet side so that theairflow path through the air heat exchanger is configured so that it canbe regulated and cut off.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the flaps of theair heat exchanger are configured thermally insulated. It is appreciatedthat the flaps have a double function since they are used on the onehand side for air deflection during cooling operation of the heatexchanger arrangement and on the other hand side for thermal insulationof the air heat exchanger during defrosting operation in order toprovide efficient defrosting. Thus, the overall energy efficiency of theair conditioning component is increased.

The housing chamber according to an advantageous embodiment includes awalk on base plate which is configured air permeable in the portion ofthe inflow cavity in order to provide an intake portion for the housingchamber.

The fan is preferably arranged in the outflow cavity of the housingchamber, so that the air flow moves through the intake portion in thewalkable base plate into the inflow cavity of the housing. Air is ductedthrough the air heat exchanger into the outflow cavity of the housing tothe intake portion of the fan. Thus, the fan is arranged on the baseplate according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention and canbe directly connected with an air duct on the pressure side.

In order to be able to inspect, maintain and repair the heat exchangerarrangement, an inspection door is provided in the housing chamber.Furthermore, a defrosting device with a condensate drain isadvantageously provided at the air heat exchanger. One of the options toheat the defrosting device is to integrate the heating rods into the airheat exchanger. The defrosting device with the condensate drain can bereached through the inspection door.

It is a particularity of the configuration that the housing chamber isconfigured from a base frame at which insulating material elements arearranged.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, supportsconfigured as hanging rods are attached at the base frame so that thehousing chamber can be mounted hanging off a ceiling in a building.Certainly the heat exchanger arrangement can also stand on a suitablebase depending on the configuration of the building.

The airflow direction when entering into the housing and exiting fromthe housing chamber is advantageously configured parallel and vertical.On the other hand side, the air flow direction through the air heatexchanger is horizontal, wherein the two flaps of the air heat exchangercan be positioned so that they cause the air routing, the air deflectionand the air volume dosing during air entry and air exit. Thus, it isadvantageous to configure the flaps so that they are driven by suitablemotors and movable.

Thus, the flap position can be tied into the control and regulationconcept of the arrangement during operations of the air conditioningarrangement and an optimum air distribution and optimum defrostingproperties are achieved.

The flaps are thus configured so that they can be positioned in anadvantageous manner so that they thermally insulate the air heatexchanger towards the outside so that the air inlet side and the airoutlet side of the air heat exchanger are completely covered. Thisfacilitates that the heat exchanger is insulated towards the outsideduring defrosting so that the heating energy which is introduced intothe air heat exchanger through the defrosting device for defrosting canbe used for the defrosting process almost in its entirety.

The advantages of the heat exchanger arrangement according to theinvention include the simple configuration and integration of the airheat exchanger and the heat exchanger arrangement into the airconditioning arrangement, wherein good maintainability and reparabilitycan be obtained. It is appreciated in particular that the heating energyfor defrosting the heat exchanger is used with much higher efficiencycompared to known configurations and thus the energy consumption fordefrosting is significantly reduced. Another advantage of using platesthat define the air path is that no humidity can leave the heatexchanger as vapor during defrosting and thus the moisture leaves theheat exchanger arrangement completely as a liquid over the drain of thedefrosting device. Thus, the condensate that is accumulated in the heatexchanger is effectively removed from the air cycle and does not impactthe subsequent fan and the adjacent ventilation cavities duringdefrosting as a vapor or as moisture.

Furthermore, less material is required for the heat exchangerarrangement, the component and thus the entire arrangement can beimplemented lighter and with less material consumption which impacts thestatics of the entire arrangement and the integration of an airconditioning arrangement in a building in a positive manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details features and advantages of the invention can be derivedfrom the subsequent description of advantageous embodiments withreference to the associated drawing figure, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a heat exchangerarrangement according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a three-dimensional view of the heat exchangerarrangement according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a heat exchanger arrangement 1 in a sectional view.The heat exchanger arrangement 1 substantially includes a housing 3 inwhich the air heat exchanger 2 can be arranged. The housing 3 itself isclosed in downward direction through a base plate 8. The housing 3 isconfigured thermally insulated on a side and in upward direction. It isa particularity of the configuration that the housing 3 due to the sizeof the air heat exchanger 2 as a walkable cell is configured as acomponent of the air conditioning arrangement. For this purpose, aninspection door 9 that is illustrated in FIG. 2 is provided in thehousing.

The configuration of the housing chamber 3 in the illustrated embodimentincludes a base frame and insulation elements arranged at the baseframe. Furthermore, supports 7 configured as hanging rods are providedat the base frame, which facilitates arranging the entire heat exchangerarrangement 1 in a hanging manner at a building. This way volumes of thebuilding can be used which are otherwise difficult to use.

The air heat exchanger 2 segments the housing chamber 3 into an inflowcavity 11 and an outflow cavity 12 for the air to be conditioned,wherein the flow direction 6 is schematically illustrated with arrows.

Through the segmentation of the housing chamber 3 into the two flowcavities 11, 12, the housing chamber 3 itself becomes an element of theflow control device of the air conditioning arrangement. The air heatexchanger 2 includes motor adjustable flaps 4 extending over portions ofthe air entry opening and the air exit opening. Through the flaps 4, theair flow path of the air heat exchanger 2 can be completely closed sothat a flow through of the heat exchanger 2 with air can besubstantially reduced or excluded. This is particularly significant fora defrosting process for the air heat exchanger 2. In this operatingcondition, the flaps 4 are closed and the air flow path through the heatexchanger 2 is completely blocked. This prevents that the air heatexchanger 2 is flowed through by air during the defrosting process andthus heat and moisture are transported out of the heat exchanger withthe air. This also substantially assures that the heating energy that isintroduced into the heat exchanger 2 through the defrosting device 10during the defrosting process is mostly usable for defrosting the frozencondensate which substantially improves the energy efficiency of thearrangement.

For further improvement of the energy efficiency, the flaps 4 arethermally insulated or configured as insulation elements themselves. Thedefrosting device 10 includes a heating device, in the illustratedembodiment these are the heating elements which are integrated in theair heat exchanger 2 and a condensate drain pan through which themelting condensate is removed in a controlled manner during thedefrosting process.

The base plate 8 of the housing 3 supports the air heat exchanger 2 andthe fan 5. Thus, the fan 5 is horizontally arranged on the base plate 8and feeds air through a recess in the base plate 8 into the air duct 13that is indicated in FIG. 1, wherein the cooled air is used ordistributed further in the air conditioning arrangement through the airduct 13.

The fan 5 is placed in the outflow cavity 12 in the illustratedembodiment of the heat exchanger arrangement 1. The base plate 8includes openings in the portion of the inflow cavity 11 which openingsare configured as a hatched intake portion for the housing 3, whereinair can flow through the intake portion from below into the housingchamber 3. The air flow direction 6 indicates the air flow in FIG. 1through the arrows. The air to be cooled thus enters the housing chamber3 in the inflow cavity 11 through the grid openings in the base plate 8,the air is deflected through the flap 4 in the inflow cavity 11 and isdeflected again through the heat exchanger 2 by the flap 4 arranged andpositioned in the outflow cavity 12, is sucked in by the fan 5,compressed and fed in downward direction through the base plate 8 intothe air duct 13.

FIG. 2 illustrates the perspective view of the heat exchangerarrangement 1. It is illustrated that, depending on the size of the airheat exchanger 2 in longitudinal direction, also plural fans 5 can bearranged. In the illustrated embodiment, two fans 5 are provided.

It is a particular advantage of the heat exchanger arrangement 1 thatthe air heat exchanger 2 segments the flow cavity for the air within thechamber so that a mixing of air from the inflow cavity 11 and theoutflow cavity 12 is substantially prevented. Thus, an efficientoperation of the heat exchanger arrangement 1 is facilitated andinefficient mixing of cooled and non-cooled air is not provided.

Other advantages are that the fans 5 are arranged so that they aredisposed at an optimum angle relative to the air inlet and outlet and aseparation between negative pressure side and positive pressure side inthe cell is provided.

It is furthermore particularly advantageous that no fan heaters arerequired and the position of the fans can be configured so that a directforwarding of the cooled air can be provided without additionaldeflection and thus with minimum flow losses towards the air duct of thebuilding or into the subsequent air channels.

The dimensions of the housing chamber and of the inspection door 9substantially facilitate inspections or repairs of the heat exchangerarrangement 1.

This also means that the heating device that is required for thedefrosting of the heat exchanger 2 within the defrosting device in apacket and the condensate drain pan are reachable in an uncomplicatedmanner in this arrangement through the inspection door 9.

Through the proposed configuration, it is possible overall to reduce theweight of the heat exchanger arrangement 1 that is configured as acomponent of an air conditioning arrangement by approximately 15% overknown configurations.

REFERENCE NUMERALS AND DESIGNATIONS

-   -   1 Heat exchanger arrangement    -   2 Air heat exchanger    -   3 Housing    -   4 Flap    -   5 Fan    -   6 Air flow direction    -   7 Support    -   8 Base plate of the housing    -   9 Inspection door    -   10 Defrosting device    -   11 Inflow cavity    -   12 Outflow cavity    -   13 Air duct

1. A heat exchanger arrangement, comprising: an air heat exchangerarranged in a thermally insulated housing chamber; a defrosting device;and a fan, wherein the housing chamber itself forms an air flow cavityand is segmented by the air heat exchanger into an inflow cavity and anoutflow cavity, and wherein the air heat exchanger includes adjustableflaps which are configured on an air inlet side and on an air outletside of the heat exchanger to regulate or block an airflow path.
 2. Theheat exchanger arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the flaps areconfigured thermally insulated and vapor tight.
 3. The heat exchangerarrangement according to claim 1, wherein the housing chamber includes awalkable base plate which is configured air permeable as an intakeportion in the inflow cavity.
 4. The heat exchanger arrangementaccording to claim 1, wherein the fan is arranged in the outflow cavityof the housing chamber.
 5. The heat exchanger arrangement according toclaim 1, wherein the fan is arranged on the base plate and connected ona pressure side of the fan with an air duct.
 6. The heat exchangerarrangement according to claim 1, wherein the housing chamber includesan inspection door.
 7. The heat exchanger arrangement according to claim1, wherein the defrosting device includes heating rods integrated intothe air heat exchanger and a condensate drain pan.
 8. The heat exchangerarrangement according to claim 1, wherein the housing chamber isconfigured from a base frame with insulation elements, and whereinsupports are configured as hanging rods at the base frame.
 9. The heatexchanger arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a first air flowdirection during entry into the housing chamber and a second airflowdirection during exit from the housing chamber are oriented in verticaldirection, parallel and opposite to one another, and wherein the airflow through the air heat exchanger is oriented horizontal, wherein theflaps are positionable to cause air flow control, air flow deflectionand air flow volume dosing.
 10. The heat exchanger arrangement accordingto claim 1, wherein the flaps are configured to cover and thermallyinsulate the air inlet and the air outlet side of the air heat exchangerso that the air heat exchanger is thermally insulated relative to theoutside for defrosting.